cap’n loves him some amy acker

Although I’ve kept up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comics I can’t say the same for its spin-off (which probably has something to do with most of its best characters getting killed off). Picking up an Angel comic for the first time in a couple of years I was met by a pleasant surprise. My favorite Angel/Buffy supporting character is back. Okay, you’ve got my attention.

After five seasons and more than 100 episodes Person of Interest comes to a close with “Return 0.” With both The Machine and Samaritan slowly dying, our ragtag group of heroes have one last mission: destroy the back-up copy of Samaritan to prevent it from ever returning. For Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson) this means breaking into the Federal Reserve and infecting Samaritan’s air-gaped servers with the ICE-9 virus. For Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) this means one final shoot-out in the subway. And for The Machine it means chasing Samaritan into space and finding a way to defeat the rival’s final copy aboard a satellite once and for all.

The penultimate episode of Person of Interest takes Finch (Michael Emerson) into the heart of the enemy and to the precipice of a decision of how far he’s willing to go to destroy Samaritan. Armed with one of the world’s most dangerous computer viruses and the need to protect his friends before they face the same fate of Root (Amy Acker), the only decision Harold has to make is would he be willing to harm his own artificial intelligence to stop Samaritan? To help its creator make his decision, The Machine offers a series of simulations of what his life, and the lives of his friends, would have been like if he had never created an artificial intelligence.

The post-Root era begins as Finch (Michael Emerson) and The Machine (now speaking with Amy Acker‘s voice) head off on a road trip with ominous ramifications as Harold takes his first step on his path of sworn revenge against Samaritan. Meanwhile Reese (Jim Caviezel), Shaw (Sarah Shahi), and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) head to Washington D.C. to protect their latest number: the President of the United States. Realizing that Samaritan has deemed the President irrelevant, Reese and company realize Samaritan has no regard for individual human life unless he or she is a potential asset or threat to the artificial intelligence’s control of the country.

Never was an episode of Person of Interest more aptly named than “The Day the World Went Away.” The series has never shied away from big moments, or shocking twists (it killed one of it’s three primary characters halfway through its run). As shocking as Carter‘s death was, however, this one cuts to the bone. The looming darkness which has hunted the various members of the team for most of two full seasons washes over them with such a force that not all will survive. Sparking the final battle between The Machine and Samaritan, the show’s 100th episode pulls out all the stops for a memorable, and heartbreaking, turn of events which will be he catalyst for the series’ remaining three episodes.

The number of a locksmith (Neal Huff) leads Reese (Jim Caviezel) into danger as it pits The Machine‘s agents against The Voice who goes to great lengths all to kill a single target. Wreaking havoc by planting bombs around the entire city, The Voice thinks three moves ahead of Reese and Finch (Michael Emerson) by trapping Reese and Fusco (Kevin Chapman) within the emptied precinct with a host of killers now on the loose.

While Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Finch (Michael Emerson) are stuck in a medical ward attempting to prevent a deadly outbreak caused by one of Samaritan‘s agents (Joshua Close) all to kill two targets discretely, fans are likely going to be far more psyched with what’s happening in the episode’s B-story. Still fighting to differentiate between reality and the thousands of virtual reality simulations Samaritan has forced her to run, Shaw (Sarah Shahi) makes her latest escape attempt. And, at least based on what the episode offers the audience, this one might even be real.

With each episode in the season The Machine begins to act a little more like its old self. In “QSO” it sends Root (Amy Acker) on a few seemingly unrelated tasks before making her a producer of a conspiracy radio talk show whose on-air talent has become a threat to Samaritan after uncovering a coded radio signal the artificial intelligence uses to instruct its operatives. Failing to understand how unbelievable the truth will sound on a show dealing with UFO stories and countless government conspiracies, Samaritan marks the man for death.

“A More Perfect Union” balances three stories. The number of the week sends Reese (Jim Caviezel), Finch (Michael Emerson), and eventually Root (Amy Acker) all to a high-end wedding where a member of the wedding party (although not the one they initially suspect is in danger). While given the most time of all three storylines, it’s actually the one which has the least impact on the season’s arc (although the final melancholy shot of three of them at the wedding reception certainly fits the tone of the show’s final season). As expected, Fusco (Kevin Chapman) continuing to investigate the series of missing people (all of them Samaritan victims) eventually leads the detective into grave danger as the computer’s agents cover up their tracks. Has another agent of The Machine met their end? I’m not betting on it just yet.

Whereas the previous episode was dominated by the long-awaited return of Shaw (Sarah Shahi), what “ShotSeeker” lacks strong central narrative it makes up for by juggling several disparate, but all very intriguing, elements. Finch (Michael Emerson) begins some disheartening experiments pitting scaled-down versions of The Machine and Samaritan against each other. Bruce Moran (James Le Gros) returns looking for answers about Elias‘ (Enrico Colantoni) death. A curious Fusco (Kevin Chapman) continues to poke around issues that threaten to make him an enemy of Samaritan. An analyst with keen ear gets on the wrong side of Samaritan when he brings Reese‘s (Jim Caviezel) attention to a murder the A.I. has done its best to hide. And, for the second episode in a row, a fan-favorite character returns from the dead.